XXY

Copyright (C) 2009 Robert S. Rosson. All rights reserved.

More than seven years have elapsed since I retired from liberating common duct stones and electrocuting colon polyps. Recently I have discovered that I possess a new and rare talent. I am now able to diagnose obscure medical illnesses in celebrities based only on newspaper and TV reports.

My first, and only, case so far, ("Apple's Apudoma," YJHM, January 25, 2009) involved Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, in whom I successfully diagnosed an islet cell tumor of the pancreas, metastatic to liver, He recently underwent liver transplantation, a treatment for this type of tumor for which I was an early advocate.

I turn now to the case of recently deceased popular music star, Michael Jackson. I mean no disrespect to him or his memory. I am, however, unashamedly giving him the diagnosis of Klinefelter’s Syndrome. In this disorder males have an extra X chromosome, giving them a profile of XXY rather than the normal XY. This has a feminizing effect and is characterized by a scarcity of facial and body hair, small testes, low testosterone levels and absence of sperm.

Mr. Jackson had an androgynous appearance, a high pitched voice, lack of facial hair, and was apparently infertile. His two older children were allegedly conceived with the aid of a sperm donor according to TV reports. His personality and body habitus were compatible with those described for some cases of Klinefelter’s.

The ambiguity of his gender role was dramatically illustrated by his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, who, when asked in an interview to explain her limited role in the lives of the children stated in effect that Michael did everything: “He was both mother and father to the kids”.

Whether this diagnosis is correct will probably be known only to his personal physician and the Los Angeles coroner. It does offer an explanation for some of his strange behaviors and characteristics, which have puzzled some of us pop music aficionados.

Published originally in YJHM July 12, 2009